Texas - 1947

Bein' six years old, I had seen some trains before

So it's hard to figure out what I'm at the depot for

Trains are big and black and smokin', steam screamin' at the wheels

Bigger than anything there is, at least that's the way she feels

Trains are big and black and smokin', louder'n July four

But everybody's actin' like this might be somethin' more

Than just pickin' up the mail, or the soldiers from the war

This is somethin' that even old man Wileman never seen before

And it's late afternoon on a hot Texas day

And somethin' strange is goin' on, and we's all in the way

Well there's fifty or sixty people, just sittin' on their cars

And the old men left their dominoes and come down from the bars

And everybody's checkin', old Jack Kittrel check his watch

And us kids put our ears to the rails to hear 'em pop.

So we already knowed it, when they finally said "train time"

You'd a-thought that Jesus Christ his-self was rollin' down the line

'Cause things got real quiet, mama jerked me back

But not before I'd got the chance to lay a nickel on the track

Look out, here she comes, she's comin'

Look out, there she goes, she's gone

Screamin' straight through Texas like a mad dog cyclone

Big and red and silver, she don't make no smoke

She's a fast-rollin' streamline, come to show the folks

I said, look out, here she comes, she's comin'

Look out, there she goes, she's gone

Screamin' straight through Texas like a mad dog cyclone

Lord, she never even stopped

But she left fifty, sixty people still sittin' on their cars

Wonderin' what it's comin' to and how it got this far

But me, I got a nickel smashed flatter than a dime

By a mad dog, runaway red-silver streamline train

Look out, here she comes, she's comin'

Look out, there she goes, she's gone

Screamin' straight through Texas like a mad dog cyclone

Big and red and silver, she don't make no smoke

She's a fast-rollin' streamline, come to show the folks

I said, look out, here she comes, she's comin'

Look out, there she goes, she's gone

Screamin' straight through Texas like a mad dog cyclone

Look out, here she comes, she's comin'

Look out, there she goes, she's gone

Screamin' straight through Texas like a mad dog cyclone

Look out, here she comes, she's comin'

Look out, there she goes, she's gone

Screamin' straight through Texas like a mad dog cyclone